Chinese electric cars: ADAC shows when the Far East is cheaper

2023-09-24 18:39:00

Electromobility Chinese electric cars: ADAC shows when the Far East is cheaper – and when not

The Nio ET7 electric car is considered a direct competitor to the Mercedes EQS – and costs almost 20,000 euros less. But China is not better off in every comparison.

© Nio / PR

The e-car boom poses a danger for European car manufacturers – because China subsidizes its own manufacturers and this causes prices to fall. The ADAC shows whether VW, Opel and BMW still have a chance against BYD, Nio, MG and Aiways in terms of price.

With the advent of electric cars, more and more own brands are being pushed out China into the market. BYD, Nio, MG and Aiways have long since arrived in Europe, and other manufacturers such as Xpeng and Zeekr will follow next year. So things are getting tighter in the European market, which Japan, Europe, South Korea and the USA largely shared without any other competitors during the combustion era.

This is currently changing drastically. According to a report by “E-Fahrer”, which refers to a forecast by market research company “Canalys”, China will replace Japan as the world’s largest car exporter this year.

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In addition, according to the General German Automobile Club (ADAC), Chinese car manufacturers are “highly subsidized”, i.e. supported by the state, and are therefore subject to completely different conditions than companies in and around Germany. So the question arises as to whether choosing a Chinese manufacturer is always the cheapest.

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The reality, according to the ADAC, looks “more complex” than one might assume. The club comes to the conclusion that in most cases it is actually the case that a Chinese counterpart has the upper hand in terms of price. The exception is, of all things, the popular compact class and the VW ID.3. The ADAC compares Volkswagen’s entry-level electric car with the Ora Funky Cat and shows that the China cat costs around 4,500 euros more than the VW.

In many other cases – and in principle in all classes – China pulls ahead in terms of price. For example, with the two compact SUVs BMW iX1 and the Zeekr X Long Range – here China is around 3000 euros less than the German manufacturer.

In comparison, the price difference between the Opel Astra Electric and the MG MG4 is particularly large. The two cars are around 10,000 euros apart, even though they offer almost the same thing. Point China.

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Things are no different in the upper class. The Nio ET7, a direct competitor for the Mercedes-Benz EQS, is 20,000 euros below the price of the star.

“Not all manufacturers will survive the competition.”

But: There are different factors that need to be taken into account when comparing the prices of the brands. Some European cars are currently performing better in tests than Chinese vehicles in many respects. The ADAC refers to the Comparison between Nio, BMW and Mercedes-Benzin which the two German manufacturers are (just) ahead.

However, the club notes that the purchase price of the car is not enough. Florian Hördegen, head of vehicle technology at the ADAC Technical Center, says: “With the generally cheaper purchase prices of Chinese models, one should not forget the expected high loss of value and the uncertainty with new brands regarding spare parts availability and maintenance. In the end, a supposed bargain could turn out to be more expensive. “

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Hördegen also expects that not all manufacturers will survive the current gold rush – if you own a car from a lost brand, maintenance can quickly become a problem.

Those: ADAC, E-driver